Occupational health and safety news and guidance

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has been fined £83,600
for failing to arrange annual safety checks on gas appliances in
tenanted accommodation.

The local authority is required by law to arrange annual checks by a
Gas Safe registered engineer and keep and maintain gas safety records
for all the properties it provides in its capacity as a landlord.

However, an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
revealed it failed to provide adequate certification for appliances in
scores of properties under its control between April 2008 and July 2010.

On 11 July, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard that HSE
uncovered the failings after a tenant at Stewarts Lodge, a
multi-occupancy emergency hostel, complained that a gas safety
certificate wasn't available.

Checks at the hostel on 10 July 2009 found that a gas safety record
for the property, which contained several gas cookers and other
appliances, had expired on 4 April 2008 - 15 months previously.

HSE asked the local authority to provide a 'lapse table' for other
properties where annual safety checks had slipped and was given a list
of 297 properties. Twenty were subsequently investigated by HSE and all
were found to contain gas cookers or boilers that should have been
checked at least every 12 months.

HSE prosecuted London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for nine
separate breaches of Regulation 36(3)(a) of the Gas Safety (Installation
and Use) Regulations 1998 in relation to lapsed checks, with a further
14 breaches taken into consideration in agreement with the defendant.

The local authority pleaded guilty to all nine breaches and was fined
a total of £83,600 and ordered to pay full costs of £15,553.